The lawyer for Dodgers’ chief executive officer Jamie McCourt said Thursday his client has no plans to surrender her ownership involvement or position with the club as she separates from team owner Frank McCourt.

Jamie McCourt, who confirmed the separation on Wednesday, is the highest ranking woman in Major League Baseball.

Her lawyer, Dennis M. Wasser, disputed claims by Frank McCourt’s lawyer that his client is the sole owner of the team.

“We are confident that if the ownership issue must be adjudicated, the Dodgers will be determined to be community property owned 50 percent by each of the McCourts,” Wasser said.

He said his client had chosen to publicly respond because Frank McCourt’s lawyer, Marshall Grossman, had made public statements about the situation late Wednesday night.

“We are disappointed that Mr. McCourt’s attorney has chosen to express legal positions in the press, in violation of the parties’ specific agreement not to make any public statements about this private matter,” Wasser said.

“Jamie McCourt had desired to just focus on the Dodgers’ success in postseason play. However, Jamie and her attorneys now feel she must briefly respond.”

Grossman could not be reached for response Thursday. But in media interviews Wednesday he said Frank McCourt is the sole owner of the team and that would not change despite the couples’ separation. He also said the team would not be sold.

The determination of team ownership would be at the heart of any dispute of community property, should the couple divorce.

California law holds that a divorce asset be divided 50-50 between the two parties, which is problematic with a Major League Baseball franchise that must, by league rule, have only one controlling owner.

A similar situation led to the sale of the San Diego Padres in February, when owner John Moores sold the team as part of a divorce settlement with his wife, Becky.

The Padres, who won division titles in 2005 and 2006 and lost a one-game playoff for a wild-card berth in 2007, finished 63-99 in 2008 after Moores gutted the roster to save payroll costs during the divorce battle.

Marshall Waller, a divorce attorney and family-law specialist in Beverly Hills and Calabasas who is not involved in the McCourts case, said the Dodgers could be in a different situation from the Padres because the McCourts are both officers of the team.

“We need to know who (legally) owns the Dodgers,” Waller said. “Just because this is a divorce doesn’t mean anything weird has to happen to the Dodgers.

“(Just as) if a dentist gets a divorce, somebody has to continue to run the business. … In a perfect world, the two (McCourts) will continue doing their jobs, to the betterment of the club. If they can’t, we’ll see a power play, and a court will have to decide who runs the business.”

In some situations, he added, a court can even choose to appoint a third party to run the business. He also noted that if a fight over the division of community property forces one partner to buy out the other, that could lead to the franchise being “cannibalized” to raise money.

Team officials have generally declined comment on what they termed a private matter.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre was asked at a pregame news conference Thursday how the pending divorce might affect the team on the field.

“You know, it’s a very private thing, and I respect that,” Torre said. “It’s not going to affect anything we do (on the field).

“It’s unfortunate, and I feel badly, but it’s one of those things that happen in life.”

In the Dodger Stadium stands before Thursday’s game, fans expressed various degrees of concern about the news, some worried about the McCourts personally and others about the potential impact on the franchise.

Mikus and Luz Schilling, of Huntington Beach, said they’re sad for the McCourts and can relate to the couple’s problems because the Schillings both are on their second marriage.

“I guess I got flashbacks,” Luz Schilling said of hearing about the McCourts’ separation. “It’s going to be a tough year.”

Her husband, who wore a “Los Doyers” T-shirt, was bothered that the McCourts announced their separation the day before the start of a playoff series that could propel the Dodgers to their first World Series berth since their 1988 championship. He feared the news could be a distraction to the players.

Long-term, Schilling said, he hopes a potential divorce of the McCourts wouldn’t unsettle the franchise the way the Padres’ owner’s divorce did in San Diego. As for the McCourts’ home life, Schilling sounded ambivalent.

“Do I care?” asked Mikus Schilling, 51, a plumbing contractor. “Personally, I’m sad when anybody gets a divorce. But give me a World Series, and you can have your divorce.”

Jim Beaupre, 62, a CPA from Chatsworth who was at Thursday’s game with his wife Patricia, 61, a teacher, didn’t sound worried. He said it seems the McCourts have been living separate lives for some time.

“(A) divorce is just something that’s official,” Beaupre said, “and it probably is an extension of a sour relationship that’s been going on for some time.”

But Willie Jasper, 77, a retired aircraft inspector from Cerritos, said he was “flabbergasted” at the timing of the announcement.

“Here are two people who’ve got everything in the world going for them, and they turn out to be just normal people who can’t sort out their differences,” Jasper said. “It was somewhat of a shock. I like both of them. They’ve brought us a championship-caliber ballclub. I’m hoping it won’t have any effect (on the franchise).”

Kevin Modesti is a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Southern California News Group, covering the political scene in Los Angeles County. An L.A. native, he was a sports writer, columnist and editor for most of his career, and later an editorial board member, writer and editor in the Opinion section. He lives in the San Fernando Valley and is based in the Woodland Hills office.